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Project Info

Bryce Cronin thumbnail

Team Name


Bryce Cronin


Team Members


Bryce Cronin

Project Description


Important Links

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What is This?

This is an interactive data visualiser tool that allows you to experiment with adjusting the energy mix in various Australian cities by utilising public spaces and rooftops for renewable energy generation.

It's designed as an educational tool to demonstrate the challenges involved in achieving net zero by 2050 and to educate young people about Australia's current and future energy mix, as well as urban planning considerations and the space required for different renewable energy sources.

Australia’s target to address climate change includes a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. To achieve this, Australia needs greater adoption of renewable energy sources and utilising public spaces will help us achieve this goal. This app measures the impact that these spaces can provide in cities of varying density around Australia to meet this goal.

Screenshot of Canberra

How Does it Work?

The app allows you to replace 0%-100% of public greenspaces and empty rooftops with either solar or wind turbine energy sources. When you first open the app, all controls are set to 0%:

Screenshot of Sydney (Blank)

Simply use the + and - buttons to adjust the mix:

Screenshot of Sydney

In the above example 70% of rooftops have been replaced with solar, and 45% of greenspace has been replaced with other renewable sources.

The 'Estimates' section calculates a range of statistics based on the currently selected city and your current energy mix percentages. These estimates are derived from national household averages and do not account for many things for the sake of simplicity - it was designed as a fun toy, not as a tool to inform real-life investments.

Net Zero & Other Statistics

Australia’s target to address climate change includes a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. To achieve this, we need greater adoption of renewable energy sources. Utilising public spaces, including city landscapes and underutilised rooftops, will help us achieve this goal. This app measures the impact of utilising these spaces and shows the benefit that utilising these spaces can provide in cities of varying density around Australia.

Screenshot of About/Help Section

Estimates generated include:
- Total km2 rooftop space in current city (and current km2 rooftop space used)
- Total km2 greenspace in current city (and current km2 greenspace used)
- Total mWh/yr required to power currently selected city (based on avg household size and energy consumption)
- Total mWh/yr estimate currently being supplied by renewables (~20% of total)
↳ Total from solar (based on your selection)
↳ Total from wind turbines (based on your selection)
- Total mWh/yr estimate currently being supplied by other sources (required-renewables)
- Total estimated cost of solar panels and wind turbines
- Total km2 of greenspace removed (based on yoru selections)
- On track for Net Zero by 2050, i.e 'Yes', 'Maybe', or 'No' (calculated based on selected investment into selected city)

The Future?

I hope that this app can be used as a tool to support renewable energy education.

Screenshot of Dubbo

Future additions to the app:
- Scrollable map (not just 3 predefined locations)
- More granular data sources for better estimates
- Additional power generation options (solar farms, hydro power, etc)
- More statistics

Additional info


#netzero #map #solar #energy

Data Story


  • Large-scale Renewable Energy Target supply data - Used to estimate current/future investment and generate a prediction if Net Zero by 2050 is on track.
  • ACTmapi - Used to retrieve sattelite imagery of Canberra.
  • Open Street Maps (OSM) - OSM was used to retrieve building and greenspace data (bounds and total area), as well as satellite imagery.

Evidence of Work

Video

Homepage

Project Image

Team DataSets

Energy Use and Electricity Generation

Description of Use Used to generate stats and estimates.

Data Set

Australian Energy Statistics

Description of Use Used to generate statistics and estimates.

Data Set

Large-scale Renewable Energy Target supply data

Description of Use Used to estimate current/future investment and generate a prediction if Net Zero by 2050 is on track.

Data Set

ACTmapi

Description of Use Used to retrieve sattelite imagery of Canberra.

Data Set

Open Street Maps (OSM)

Description of Use OSM was used to retrieve building and greenspace data (bounds and total area), as well as satellite imagery.

Data Set

Challenge Entries

Emissions: The Dark side of Buildings

How might we address the built environment which accounts for 40% of the world’s GHG emissions through data sets and smart technologies? How will the phenomenon of a hybrid “return to the workplace” impact how we use existing spaces and plans for developing new spaces? How do we create the right mix of brownfield and greenfield projects to optimise results of efforts?

Go to Challenge | 7 teams have entered this challenge.

Integrate Disparate Data Sources like a Palantir Engineer

When working with our customers worldwide, our most successful outcomes come from our ability to make sense out of high degrees of complexity. We think that leveraging our existing toolkits and performing data fusion in your projects will help you better solve the problems of GovHack 2022.

Go to Challenge | 9 teams have entered this challenge.

Helping Australia reach net zero emissions by 2050

Australia has a goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050. How can Australians use public spaces, including city landscapes to achieve these goals?

Go to Challenge | 18 teams have entered this challenge.

Reducing climate impact through sustainable energy behaviours

How might we reduce climate impact through changes in energy sources, production, distribution and consumption

Go to Challenge | 10 teams have entered this challenge.

Best Creative Use of Data in Response to ESG (AU)

How can you showcase data in a creative manner to respond to ESG challenges? How can we present and visualise data to stimulate conversation and promote change?

Go to Challenge | 31 teams have entered this challenge.